As an 8-bit platformer, Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout isn’t the best in the bunch, but it certainly isn’t the worst either. It’s solidly average, worthy of playing again, although I don’t know how I ever had the drive or the patience to beat it when I was younger. It may not be the most memorable game of the era, but if you love old-school platformers and have already memorized every nook and cranny of the first three Super Mario Bros. games, you can probably track a copy of this one down for a few bucks.

Though it could have been a great tribute, The Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout is a mediocre game that fails to effectively capture the mirth and merriment of the license's origins. Considering his high level of fame the world over, doesn't he deserve better than to be attacked by his peers, not to mention walking clocks, oil barrels, ghosts, and floating hedgehogs? The Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout is far from the worst game on the NES, but it won't stand out from the rest of the library in the long run. And, sadly, this game is known in Europe as "The Bugs Bunny Blowout". Has a slightly more filthy tinge, doesn't it?

Sadly, once we finally reached the game it turned out to be a shambling platform attempt. The animation and scrolling on Birthday Blow-Out are ridiculously jerky. The sprites are badly defined, indeed unrecognisable in some cases, the music is ghastly and there are only a few effects to speak of - and they're crap. What's worst of all is the gameplay. The response time is so slow and the collision detection so poor that any semblance of playability is crushed. Not only this, but Bugs is also highly deficient in the difficulty stakes too. None of the stages pose much of a problem and it's a cinch to notch up thirteen or fourteen bonus lives by the end of each level. A very poor example of an overworked NES genre and a sad loss of a potentially hilarious and entertaining license.